Andalucía Trade - intellectual property services for entrepreneurs and businessmen in Andalucía

The Andalucía Trade agency, subordinate to the Andalusian Ministry of Economy, Finance and European Funds, will now provide intellectual property services for Andalusian entrepreneurs and businessmen.

Andalucía Trade CEO Antonio Castro met with the director of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM), Aida Fernández, to discuss the industrial property services provided by the Andalusian government as an antenna of the OEPM as part of the cooperation between the two institutions, according to the Andalusian government in a press release.

The purpose of this agreement, valid until 2027, is to provide access to information and facilitate the protection of Andalusian inventions, designs and trademarks.

These services will be provided by Andalucía Trade, as an agency of the Andalusian government integrating entrepreneurial services. Among the services to be provided by Andalucía Trade are consultancy and registration of patent, trademark and design applications, with their users being the self-employed, SMEs, technology centers and institutions of Andalusia.

Registering applications at the offices of the new Andalusian agency gives an effective date for exclusive rights, although it is now advised that online registration can be used via the OEPM e-portal, reducing costs and processing time.

Andalucía Trade's qualified staff in all Andalusian provinces will provide personalized and complete advice on which protection strategy best suits the needs of the company, allowing them to save costs in a process as complex as protecting creativity with industrial property tools.

Andalucía Trade, as Regional Industrial Property Center, will collaborate in actions to promote and disseminate the importance of industrial property protection and actively participate in anti-counterfeiting campaigns. In addition, it will cooperate in all projects initiated by the European Intellectual Property Office (Euipo) and the European Patent Office (EPO) that will benefit Andalusian entrepreneurs, as well as actively participate in national and international networks for specialized advice.

Andalucía Trade is the only regional center in Spain that provides technological surveillance services. This free service is very much appreciated by companies, not only because of the cost savings, but also because they receive meaningful information for their innovation processes in general and for possible patent applications that may arise.

Overall, Andalucía Trade is expected to process an average of 7,000 actions per year, including requests for advice, registrations of applications and official documents to maintain rights.

THIRD PLACE IN INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION

Andalusia registered a total of 154 national patent applications in 2022, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year.

A total of 311 applications for utility models were submitted. The number of applications for trademarks and trade names in 2022 amounted to 8,452 registrations of various marks and 153 applications for industrial design, which together totals 9,075 applications. Andalusia ranks third among the autonomous regions of Spain in terms of the number of registrations, following only Madrid and Catalonia.